Valleywag
Is Mark Zuckerberg's heart two sizes too small? Is Facebook ruining Christmas? Ask Tasha Valdez and the answer is duh. Facebook's privacy-invading Beacon ads are totally the new Grinch. "Oh my gosh, my cousins entire christmas shopping list this week was displayed on the feed. thats so messed up. This has gotta stop!" You want more, you sick schadenfreuder? OK, but then you gotta vote for who really stole Christmas.
Greatest hits from the comments in MoveOn.org's Facebook group, protesting Facebook Beacon:
- "Oh my gosh, my cousins entire christmas shopping list this week was displayed on the [Facebook news] feed. thats so messed up. This has gotta stop!" — Tasha Valdez from Michigan
- "I bought some shoes and a dress on Overstock.com and was shocked to see it on my news feed the next time I logged onto facebook. The next day I had several people come up to me and comment on the things I bought. It was really creepy. I wonder what would have happened if I had bought underwear?" — Rachel Hundley
- "i found out what i was getting for Christmas from my sister...sadness." — Annie Kadala from north Carolina
- "I made a purchase yesterday for my wife for Christmas...When my wife logged onto Facebook, there was an entry in her news feed that I had bought a ring from Overstock. It had a link to the ring and everything. Christmas ruined." — Sean Lane from Massachusetts
- "I saw my gf bought an item i had been saying i wanted ... so now part of my christmas gift has been ruined. Facebook is ruining christmas!" — Matthew Helfgott
When a Wall Street Journal reporter asked if Facebook should ever tell your friends what you do on other sites, 1.5 percent chose always, 30.5 percent chose often, sometimes or rarely and 68 percent chose never. In an informal poll of my colleagues, 100 percent said only a Grinch would give away what someone bought as a Christmas present. Now, it's time for your opinion.
Comments
Zuckerberg said that Facebook would be as open or as closed as its users wanted. This was a good example of how being too open can spook your audience.
would it be wrong to say i want zuck for xmas? just asking...
I don't know whats worse.. your wife discovering what you bought her for christmas.. or your friends finding out you shop on overstock.com
@dweezel: how is this an example of being open? If they were open, anyone would be able to interact with the feed, you wouldn't have to pay for the privilege. An open system would work more like the facebook apps -- users decide which sites/applications they want to have access to their feed, and sites/applications can interact with feeds through an open API. Beacon is not open, it's a marketing ploy.
Rachel Hundley doesn't buy underwear? Sweet.
How could they not see this coming? This is one of the first problems I saw with the idea; why didn't anyone at Facebook speak up, or is Zuckerberg's management really that bad?
Wait - I thought our people always ruined Christmas. Or are the cause of it.
@Jeremy: Are you Jewish, or in retail?
@sample032: Aren't they one and the same?
@Jeremy: Touché
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?